Contaminate
by nicksfriend
Summary: A lack of air conditioning upsets our favorite Texan but it could be a lot worse, he could be contaminated with an unknown substance.


Title:Contaminate

Disclaimer: They do not belong to me...that is for sure.

Author's note:This is my first CSI fic. Please be gentle.

He looked up at the desert sun, it was beating down on him and rivulets of sweat poured down his back. Why did he always get the worse assignments? Warrick got air conditioned living room, Sara got air conditioned bedroom and Greg, yes rookie Greg got air conditioned garage. Why the hell did he always get, the backyard?

Nick, cover the backyard, Nick get the pool, Nick go check out that pig pen, I am sure you are use to the stench! That is what his mind was playing over and over. He reached up and wiped the sweat away with his hand from his forehead and pulled his cap down a little bit further over his eyes. What he would give for a cool glass of water or a beer. Yes, a beer would be better.

He finished searching the entire perimeter of the back yard including every shed and rabbit hole. Frustration was beginning to set in as he squatted down to look at the water spout one more time, something was yelling at him but he could not figure it out,he was missing something but could not place a finger on exactly what he was missing.

Pulling out a collection cup he filled it with the brown water from the hose and placed the lid on securely,bagged it and initialed the orange strip. He looked around and noted that the grass was dead beside of the water spout, in of itself unusual, one would think the grass would be greener.

He made a mental note and moved to the next area of interest, a small dead garden snake lay on the stairs leading up to the house. He bagged the dead snake and labeled it correctly,hoping that Sara would not be the one to pull out the evidence, she hated snakes.

He finished up and walked around to the front of the house and opened his SUV and placed the evidence into the cooler, it would be too hot to not keep it on ice. He jumped into the truck and started the engine, the heat blasted from the air conditioner,it would take several minutes for it to cool down.

He laid his head back and closed his eyes, awaiting the cool air but he was interrupted from his momentary peace by the voice of his friend.

"Hey, sleeping on the job?" Warrick smirked as he placed his evidence in the back of Nick's SUV.

"Just trying to cool off man, the backyard lacks the comfort of air conditioning." Nick had closed his eyes again and awaited his friend to say something else to piss him off.

"Nick, what is this in this cup?" Warrick asked as he looked down at the brown water.

"I got it from the water spout in the backyard. Looks as if they have a sewage problem, possible contamination of their drinking water. I'll test it when we get back." Nick still awaited cool air from the air conditioner, his face still covered in sweat.

"Man, that looks nasty." Warrick finished placing his evidence in Nick's truck and came around to the side of the driver's window.

Finally the cool air filled the inside and Nick opened his eyes, "I'm going to head back to the lab, tell Grissom I'm going back to deliver this evidence and start running some tests."

"Sure Nicky, leave us here to do the dirty work." Warrick smiled, knowing that Nick was lucky if he weren't suffering heat stroke, it had to at least one-hundred and ten degrees in the sun.

"I'd feel bad for you man if you didn't have that damned air conditioning." He put his finger on the window button and started raising the window as he slowly pulled out of the driveway, he could hear Warrick call him something but was not for sure if he heard him correctly. He was sure it had to be something really bad.

Crime lab

Nick pulled out the specimens and placed them in the proper areas, Hodges would run a preliminary on the brown water.

Taking out he dead snake he could not get it out his brain the look Sara would have if she was to get too close the the little garden snake. Sara hated snakes.

After placing all the labeled specimens in their proper place he decided to grab a cool drink from the fridge, he knew he had placed some water in the day before but things did tend to disappear.

Opening the fridge he noticed that there was only one bottle left so he took it and opened it, quickly drinking about half the bottle in one gulp. Afterwards he walked into the lab trying to find Hodges, hopefully to have a better understanding of the brown water.

It didn't take long to find the labrat and the expression on his face told him that this was important.

"Nick, I think we may have a situation here. I'm calling the CDC and you need to call Grissom and tell them to get out of that house." Hodges had already gloved masked and gowned.

"What are you talking about Hodges?" His own voice seemed to crack. What the hell was Hodges all upset about and why did he feel as if he was in for the ride of his life.

"Nick, there is an unknown biological contaminate in that water. On preliminary it almost looks like it could be viral but the DNA structure is more complicated. It is something I've never seen before and I have seen it all." Hodges held up a finger to halt his conversation with Nick and to talk to the CDC.

Nick pulled out his cell phone and hit quick dial to Grissom.

"Yes, Grissom." a very tired voice came over the phone.

"Listen, Hodges just ran a preliminary on a specimen I collected from the water spout, it is an unknown biological. He feels you need to evacuate until the CDC arrives." His own voice relaying the nervousness he was feeling over the situation.

"Let me talk to Hodges." Grissom's voice now more serious.

Nick held up his phone for Hodges but the lab tech would have no part of it.

"Tell him I will call from this phone, by the way you are quarantined until the CDC arrives. They recommended that you take a shower and me too. We are considered contaminated." Hodges looked upset and very nervous.

"He will call you from the land line." He did not wait for Grissom to respond as he ended the call waving for Hodges to go ahead and call Grissom back.

Finding a chair he just sat down and awaited for further instructions. He felt fine except for some itching around his ankles, probably more chigger bites, he thought to himself as he absently scratched at them.

Within the hour the lab was being sealed off and Nick was rushed into a shower area. They gave him a special soap to use and clothing. Grissom and the rest of the team were being the same treatment at the house. Hodges was also treated to the shower after him, the rest of the lab personnel were evacuated.

A doctor and nurse entered the area where Nick and Hodges were relocated and they took out their equipment to give cursory exams and to take blood.

Nick could not help but to think that the contaminate might be lethal, especially since they were treating it in such a high priority manner.

"I need you to lie down and roll up your sleeve." a kind voice told him and he did what he was told. The needle hitting his arm with such intensity, it felt as he had been shocked. She pulled vial after vial of blood from his arm and just when he thought the assault was over she pulled out an angiocath and slid it into a vein.

"What are you doing?" feeling a need to know what the hell was going on.

"I'm starting an intravenous line and I will be giving you fluid and antibiotics and some anti viral meds." Her explanation short and sweet as she continued to tape down the line and start fluids.

He did not feel so bad seeing that Hodges was getting the same treatment but he did notice the lab tech seemed to be enjoying the attention far more than he was, because all he could feel was irritation with the entire matter.

As soon as she was finished she left with the vials of his blood. Another masked man entered and with new equipment, an EKG monitor, fold out beds, IV pumps and a litany of other unknowns machines.

This was getting out of hand, he wanted explanations and all he was getting was frustrated.

"I need to know what is going on, I have that right." His southern accent deepening with his nervousness.

"Mr Stokes, my name is Jeremy Bellows, I am a physician with the CDC. It looks as if we might be dealing with an unknown viral contaminant. We are doing some research but for right now we are just being cautious, which I am sure you can appreciate given you chemistry and microbiology background."

He started setting up his equipment and separating him from Hodges with a plastic curtain. He pulled out the cot bed and set the various pumps and machines beside it and motioned for Nick to come and lie down.

He got up from the counter he was lying on and walked over to the cot, "I'm not tired."

The doctor nodded,"I'm sure that you aren't but you are a patient now and I have some tests that I need to perform. I need baselines so that if you do become ill I will know your normals and have something to compare with in the event you become sick."

His mood was getting worse as he moved towards the bed and saw things that made him cringe.

"I need to insert a foley catheter that will help monitor your kidney function first."

That was it, now way was he going to let them do that, "I don't think so, that is not going to happen." he would fight them first.

The doctor nodded, and motioned for the nurse to enter, "Give him five of Valium and I will be back."

"I don't want any drugs, I just want to get out of here." His voice sounded pleading and pitiful even to his own ears.

The nurse ignored his plea and pulled out a vial and syringe, quickly she emptied the contents into his IV line and walked away.

The medication quickly hit and he was finding it hard to stay awake, the last thing he saw was the doctor reenter the small space.

Eight Hours later

He could hear the sound of machines with their soft humming noises, and his eyelids felt heavy and he found it difficult to open them. After a few minutes he was able to pry them open enough to see that he was still in the same place but with a lot more attached to him, heart monitor, oxygen, some things that he did not even recognize.

Feeling an overwhelming need for a drink he tried to reach the cup himself and found that he could not move his arm, it had been restrained so as not to allow the IV to be pulled out.

"I need a drink." All he could think was that his voice must of changed because it sounded so weak.

Suddenly a masked face appeared and she was bringing him a drink, even holding the cup so that he could drink from the straw. He almost choked on the cool fluid, it felt great to his dry throat though and he lay back into his pillow, feeling weaker than he had before he fell asleep.

He looked at the new intravenous bags hanging on the pole and took in his weakened condition. "I'm infected, right?" he asked the nurse standing next to the cot.

"No Mr Stokes you weren't infected but you are having a reaction to something and the doctor is trying to figure it out. You went into respiratory distress within minutes of being hooked up to the machines. I think all this saved your life." She reached over and felt his now warm skin and shook her head. " Have you ever had a reaction similar to this before?"

He thought for a few seconds and the only thing he ever remember having a reaction to were the red ants, "Did I have any insect bites?"

"Not enough to cause a reaction but we did find some on your ankles, probably ant bites."

"I had a severe reaction a couple of years ago, I carry an epi pen with me at all times but I didn't even know that I had been bitten." he laid back and took in all the machines and looked over to notice that Hodges was missing, "Were is Hodges?"

"He was cleared, the substance you found was actually sewage related and a mixture of several viruses." She motioned for the doctor to come and to see the patient.

"Mr Stokes we are getting ready to transport you to Desert Palm. Evidently you have a history of anaphylactic reaction in the past, your boss just informed me of this and we are going to get you transported to an ICU bed." The doctor pulled off his mask and tossed it into the trash, the nurse followed and they started taking apart equipment that was not attached to him.

Suddenly he noted that an ambulance stretcher was bedside his cot and that they were lifting him with swiftness and rushing him out the door, a flood of faces went by, Warrick, Grissom, Sara and Gregg. Catherine was awaiting his arrival at the ambulance.

"Nick, everything is fine. You were lucky this time." She smiled and was assisted into the ambulance. She sat near to his legs and laid her hand on his thigh. She just stared at him and he had to close his eyes, embarrassed at the situation.

All he could think was that next time he might not be so lucky, if it weren't for the contaminate then he might of died, probably at home or even in his sleep. What had Gordan done to his life?

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This is a short and sweet story I came up with as I continue to write In God's Hands. Just needed a little distraction. Hope you like!


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